Joan Naturale collection on Deaf History International

DEAF HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (DHI) owes its establishment to a group of interested people at the First International Conference on Deaf History, which was held at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. USA (June 20–23, 1991). This conference evolved from a suggestion made by Harlan Lane, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston. In the summer of 1989 at a meeting of professional and amateur historians engaged in the study of Deaf History during The Deaf Way Conference, he urged those attending to consider holding their own international meetings from time to time.

As an upshot, the Department of History at Gallaudet University expressed an interest and took the initiative to establish a planning committee for the First International Conference on Deaf History. Its two professors, John V. Van Cleve (also department head) and John S. Schuchman, stepped up to the plate in a huge way to plan and coordinate such an event. In attendance with them at the first formal meeting on September 6, 1990 were other invited organizers from Gallaudet, including Yerker Andersson (professor of Sociology and president of the World Federation of the Deaf), Clifton F. Carbin (holder of the 1990–1991 Powrie V. Doctor Chair of Deaf Studies), Jack R. Gannon (special assistant to the President for Advocacy), Joseph Kinner (associate professor of History) and Ausma Smits (assistant professor of History). Also, present were Harlan Lane (professor of Psychology and Linguistics, Northeastern University) and Cheri Sussman (Gallaudet interpreter).

A number of conference participants at the First International Conference on Deaf History met and decided that a formal organization with an election of international officers was needed to form an entity to “encourage the study, preservation and dissemination of Deaf people’s history” and to hold subsequent conferences. This vision was accepted with much enthusiasm. As a result, an elected committee was set up to lay the groundwork. Members of this group were Christian Barral (France) and Jack R. Gannon (USA) as co-chairs, Mary Malzkhun (USA) as secretary, Günther List (Germany) as treasurer, Igor A. Abramov (Russia), Serge Briere (Canada), John Hay (Great Britain), Harlan Lane (USA), Hans Roehl (Germany), and Ausma Smits (USA).

The credit for the actual establishment of DEAF HISTORY INTERNATIONAL goes to Ausma Smits (USA), who untiringly did the “plowing and planting” to make it all happen. She called the meeting of historians at The Deaf Way Conference, drafted the Bylaws, set up groundwork committee meetings, and invited some key individuals for consultation and feedback.

Source: http://www.deafhistoryinternational.com/history-goals-of-dhi/